BlackBerry Denies Any Potential Deals With Samsung

Update: In a recent statement, BlackBerry has denied that Samsung approached the company for any potential deal. A statement which sent BlackBerry’s shares toppling down by sixteen per cent. On the other hand, Samsung has yet to issue an official statement.

Original Report: On late Wednesday afternoon, Samsung reportedly approached BlackBerry for an acquisition for $7.5 billion. “According to a person familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters,” Samsung wished to acquire BlackBerry’s patent portfolio, the original report read. This news sent BlackBerry’s usual stock price skyrocketing, as high as 30 per cent. This sudden raise marked BlackBerry’s best stock market performance in 11 years, according to CNBC.

Reuters reported that Samsung “proposed an initial price range of $13.35 to $15.49 per share, which represents a premium of 38 percent to 60 percent over BlackBerry’s current trading price.” This may be due to the fact that although the Canadian company failed to introduce any decent smartphones in recent years, it still owns an array of security-related patents and a range of smartphones.

Those who have been following BlackBerry might know that this isn’t the first time Samsung has been associated with news of trying and buying BlackBerry. Back in 2012, a Jefferies analyst stated that Samsung might be interested in acquiring BlackBerry 10 licenses. The news, however, was later shunned down as a rumor by none other than Samsung itself.

In related BlackBerry news, the company managed to acquire 27 new patents last year in October for conference calling, security-related features, a wearable-tech that “could be used to grant access to a smartphone so users wouldn’t have to key in a passcode,” and the design of a case “that would have a touch screen so users could write notes on their device without opening the case.”

We will update the news once we hear more from Samsung, but in the meanwhile, what do you think of this whole situation?